476 EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



Subclass 2. GYMNOSPERMOUS EXOGENOUS PLANTS. 



890. Ovules, and consequently the seeds, naked, that is, not in- 

 closed in an ovary (560) ; the carpel being represented either by 

 an open scale, as in Pines ; or by a more evident leaf, as in Cy- 

 cas ; or else wanting altogether, as in the Yew. 



891. Ord, Coniferae (the Pine Family}. Trees or shrubs, with 

 branching trunks, abounding in resinous juice (the wood chiefly 

 consisting of a tissue somewhat intermediate between ordinary 

 woody fibre and vessels, which is marked with circular disks) ; the 

 leaves mostly evergreen, scattered or fascicled, usually rigid and 

 needle-shaped or linear, entire. Flowers monoecious or dioecious, 

 commonly amentaceous. Staminate flowers consisting of one or 

 more (often monadelphous) stamens, destitute of calyx or corolla, 

 arranged on a common rachis so as to form a kind of loose ament. 

 The particular structure of the flowers and fruit varies in the 

 subordinate groups chiefly as follows : 



892. Sllbord, Abietineae (the Fir, or proper Pine Family}. Fer- 

 tile aments formed of imbricated scales ; which are the flat and 

 open carpels, and bear a pair of ovules adherent to their base, with 

 the foramen turned downwards. Scales subtended by bracts. 

 Fruit a strobile or cone (619). Integument of the seed coriaceous 

 or woody, more or less firmly adherent to the scale. Embryo in 

 the axis of fleshy albumen, with two to fifteen cotyledons. (Illus- 

 trated in Fig. 391 -401, p. 307.) 



893. Subord, CupressineOB (the Cypress Family}. Fertile aments 

 of few scales crowded on a short axis, or more numerous and pel- 

 tate (Fig. 402), not bracteate. Ovules one, two, or several, borne 

 on the base of the scale, erect (the foramen looking towards its 

 apex, Fig. 394). Fruit an indurated strobile, or fleshy and with 

 the scales concreted, forming a kind of drupe. Integument of the 

 seed membranous or bony. Cotyledons two or more. Anthers of 

 several parallel cells, placed under a shield-like connectivum. 

 Ex. Cupressus (Cypress), Taxodium (American Cypress), Juni- 

 perus (Juniper, Red Cedar). 



894. Subord, Taxinese (the Yew Family}. Fertile flowers solitary, 

 terminal, consisting merely of an ovule, forming a drupaceous 

 seed at maturity. There are, therefore, no strobiles and no car- 

 pellary scales. Embryo with two cotyledons. Ex. Taxus 

 (the Yew), Torreya. 



